Lecture 3: TTA Transitions to adulthood: Snowstorm edition!

Defining Adult experiences: Methods :  Studied a large, diverse sample of young adults between the ages of 18 and 35 (N = 726), including:  both UMass Boston students (n = 517)  young adults who were neither attending nor had graduated from college (n = 209)  Used open-ended questions to solicit incidences in which participants “really felt like an adult,” and coded for the traditional and non- traditional roles and experiences  investigated variation by age and college status to explore how young adults’ subjective experiences of adulthood relate to developmental maturity and context.

Subjective Adulthood  Much research in the last decade suggests an “in between,” or “not quite adult” status period for those aged (Arnett, 2000).

In between status  Researchers have measured experiences that youth feel “must be achieved before a person can be considered an adult” Items on this scale have been organized into five subscales:  individualism (e.g., “accept responsibility for the consequences of your actions”),  family capacities (e.g., “capable of caring for children”),  norm compliance (e.g., “avoid drunk driving”),  legal/chronological transitions (e.g., “reached age 18”),  role transitions (e.g., “have at least one child”).  Arnett consistently has found that young adults emphasize three criteria reflective of individualism: responsibility for one’s self, independent decision making, and financial independence.

New way of asking  more open-ended interviews might yield a different breakdown of roles that youth associate with adulthood.  processes are likely to be shaped by individuals’ age and life circumstances.  we asked participants to describe a specific event in which they felt like an adult--a different lens into subjective experiences of adulthood.  Age—older may be more likely to feel adult  4 year College enrollment—less likely “  Taken on more traditional adult roles